LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Berenberg slashed its price target on Hilton Food on Thursday to 790p from 1,090p as it lowered forecasts after the company downgraded its full-year profit guidance earlier in the week.
The bank noted that the new guidance for adjusted pre-tax profit of £72m to £75m is 3% lower than Visible Alpha consensus at the midpoint.

"Management also flagged that it expects profit progression to be more difficult in FY 2026E, in which consensus had projected growth in adjusted profit before tax of 5% year-on-year," it said.

Changes to Berenberg's forecast resulted in downgrades to adjusted pre-tax profit by 15% and 14% in FY 2025E and FY 2026E respectively.

"We value Hilton using a DCF valuation methodology," it noted. "Hilton currently trades on 9x 12-month forward P/E, being more than one standard deviation below its long-run historical average."

Berenberg maintained its 'buy' rating on the shares.

Shore Capital put a 'hold' rating on Marks Electrical, with the stock having previously been 'under review', after the online electrical retailer's first-half results.

The broker said it's been a tough first half, with a combination of falling revenue and rising costs leading to the business becoming loss-making for the period.

"While part of this decline has been driven by weakness in the wider electronics market, the business has also suffered from having the 'wrong stock', and this has led to market share decline," it noted.

"Despite this weakness, there are still some positives here, Marks has seen a return to revenue and profit growth in the first c.6 weeks of H2."

Shore said that with a new interim CFO in place, a cost review underway and the right stock leading into Christmas, the business is well placed to deliver FY26 profit in line with consensus.

"While we believe that Marks can deliver a recovery in sales and profit, we remain cautious in the short term and thus we put out a hold recommendation with a fair value of 50p."

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